Families would pay double under Romney healthcare plan

But it would be a more expensive right under Romney, says a new study. Image: DonkeyHotey/Flickr/CC BY

According to a new report, normal families would pay almost double under the Romney healthcare plan than they would under so-called “Obamacare.”

Romney healthcare plan too costly

Mitt Romney has vowed, if elected, to immediately dismantle the Obama-administration’s Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, for being a “job killer.”

Never mind that the president does not have the sole authority to overturn laws. The study found that Romney’s plan to implement health insurance tax deductions and to turn Medicaid into a block grant program would lead to higher costs for the average family. It also said the plan would leave an estimate 41.9 million without coverage.

The report, “ObamaCare versus RomneyCare versus RomneyCandidateCare,” from the left-leaning consumer group Families USA, said the Romney plan would put a “growing and unsustainable burden on America’s families.” It estimated that a medium-income family buying non-group health insurance would pay an average of $11,481 annually under the Romney plan. Under the Affordable Care Act, they would pay $5,985.

Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack wrote:

“Under RomneyCandidateCare, middle-class families would pay comparatively much more out of pocket for their health care, and the number of uninsured Americans would skyrocket.”

Families USA also found that Romney’s plans to cut federal funding to Medicaid would leave more children and poor Americans without access to medical care.

The report concluded that the choice Americans make in November will have a profound influence on the healthcare of their families.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg Government released a separate report this week, finding that the Romney healthcare plan would not stem the rising cost of medical care.

Romney camp fires back

The Romney campaign was quick to attack the Families USA study. Amanda Henneberg, a spokeswoman for the campaign, wrote in an e-mail:

“The Families USA ‘study’ is absurd. It assumes a fantasy world where Obamacare has actually worked. But Americans aren’t buying it. They’ve have watched as provision after provision has failed, costs have skyrocketed, and Medicare has been cut by $716 billion. Today’s report undermines the important health care debate our country should be having.”

It sounds to this writer as if we are having it.

In spite of Henneberg’s claims that “American’s aren’t buying it,” a The Reuters/Ipsos poll in July showed that most Americans supported the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Playing both sides of the card

Romney is quick to condemn the Affordable Care Act. But he is also quick to remind voters that he helped draft the Massachusetts law on which it was based. Wednesday, He told a crowd in Ohio:

“Don’t forget. I got everybody in my state insured.”

Sources

Related videos

Healthy food choices are right around the corner, in cyberspace. Find out how to improve the quality and quantity of what you eat with these web and mobile app ideas. CLICK HERE if you missed the beginning of this article. Keeping track of what you eat tip No. 2 – Know [...]

According to a report from a private trade group, a surge in U.S. manufacturing orders has ended three months of contraction in the sector. U.S. manufacturing gains nearly 2 points The purchasing managers trade group, The Institute for Supply Management, has reported an increase in its index of U.S. factory activity. It [...]